7QT: A Book Giveaway!, Hobby Lobby, and Becoming Saints

Happy Friday the Thirteenth!!  Are you superstitious?  I'm just a little stitious ;)

1)

Every time I sit down to write these takes, I have to do three things:

~ Look at our calendar from the past week

~ Look at the photos on my phone

~ Check my instagram feed

Do you know why I do all these things?  Because otherwise my frazzled, tired mom brain can't remember what we did, which therefore means I have nothing to write about in these weekly updates.  OK, just thought you should know how being me works.  Thank you, next.

2)

Don't forget to enter the giveaway right here to win THREE wonderful books from Sophia Institute (I reviewed them in my last post).

Catholic Book Reviews - Christmas Edition and a GIVEAWAY!!!!

Giveaway of these great books over on Instagram!

For Saint Nicholas Day, all of my children received pajamas and a book, and a few of those books happened to be from Sophia Institute that I would like to tell you about.  So if you're looking for some Christmas gifts, I highly recommend the following...

1)

The Seed Who Was afraid to Be Planted by Anthony DeStefano

This story is very cute for the children, and deep for the adult reading to them :)  I found myself really empathizing with the seed who is afraid to get taken out of the seed drawer and be planted in the yard.  It's hard to leave the comforts of life and step out in faith, not knowing what will happen.  In the seed's case, he becomes a beautiful tree that bears fruit and provides a fun place for families to play on and around.  What might it mean in our own life?  The book is inspiring to step up and face fears, and trust that God has a plan for our lives.  Plus, the book rhymes (my favorite kind of book) and the illustrations are beautiful.

7QT: Snow Day, St. Nick's, and Sickness

Happy Friday!!  Linking up with Kelly and posting photos from Tuesday's snowday intertwined with my quick takes because I'm the boss (of this blog anyway)...

1)

After seeing these photos that Phil took of the youngest four boys playing outside in the snow, I realized I may have a blue winter coat problem?  How do they all have blue coats?  It IS my favorite color, so I guess I gravitate towards it when buying clothes for my kids.  Sorry boys, you've got the winter coat blues.

2)

Today Is St. Nicholas's Day!!!  This is my friendly reminder for you moms to go grab some Christmas pj's or books or candy and fill your kids' stockings.  The littles watched the Veggie Tale Version of St. Nicholas last night, and were very excited to head to school this morning to see what St. Nick left in their paper bag shoes.  The highschoolers get to pay $5 to dress down in red or green today, and receive a Santa hat and cookies at lunch.  I just love Catholic school!

Princess Margaret Rosemary Turns Twelve

I can't even stand how old Maggie is looking in 6th grade this year.  She's taller than her 13 year old brother, shares shoes with me, and is officially out of the children's section at the clothes store.  And now she's 12.  TWELVE!  I still remember her like this:

Actually, that's not true.  When she was born, Eamon was a colicky 14 month old, and the first year of her life was an exhausted blur.  I really remember her like this:

 Oh my goodness, how cute was she?

OK, Colleen, enough reminiscing!  

Pull yourself together, woman!

Maggie's 12th birthday fell on a Sunday, and after Mass, Phil made her crepes with nutella and strawberries and whipped cream.  We added eggs and sausage for protein, and it was a lovely brunch.

Gifts We *Actually* Bought and Received and USED in 2019

In case you need a little Black Friday shopping inspiration, here's some items we've been gifted this past year.  When you purchase through my links, we get a teeny tiny kickback, so I thank you for shopping that way!

The Dad

Dress socks

Under Armour hat

Avalon game

Three theology books and this one too

Garmin watch

Calvin and Hobbes Complete Collection

Scratch Tickets

An overnight getaway or dinner out always makes him happy too!

Teen Boys

Basketball

Basketball socks

Kyrie shoes

Madden NFL 20

XBox

Patriots (or your fave team!) yearbook

Football

Amazon gift card

A phone! With phone case

A new mattress

Sports Shirts and Jerseys and Hats

American Eagle shirts

Tickets for “Things-to-Do” like an Escape Room, Trampoline Park, Lazer Tag, that I usually can grab on Groupon.

Tween Girl

Bracelet maker

Haddix books

Cardigans and leggings and skorts

Twinkly lights for her room

Black Nike Elite socks

Slippers

Ella Ivory necklace

Under Armour sports bag

(Used but good!) Ice skates

Little Boys

Avengers sheets and comforter

Bunk bed

Marble Run

Finger Monkeys

Magnetic tiles

Boogie Boards and extra pens ***most used toy by far***

Scooter

Shirt

Bubble Guns

Fast remote control car

Minion that talks

Marvel Nerf Gear

Lava lamp

Magic 8 Ball

The Johnny English DVD

Kindle

Marvel Toys

Stretchy superheroes

Mom

Toothbrush

Favorite pajamas

Rachel's book

Vivian's book

Apple Watch

Sorel boots

Workout clothes

Makeup/Skincare

My big huge Gift Guide from years past is here, and my Big Book List is here.  Happy shopping!

7QT: The Theater, Prayer Museum, Basketball Season, Family Feud, and Holiday Shopping

Helllooooo!  What a fun week we had, starting out with tons of weekend activities.  Let's roll...

1)

On Friday night, we went to our high school's performance of Arsenic and Old Lace, which was fantastic.  You can see the set and my boys in their roles over here.  That's right, my sports loving boys are now thespians!  Haha!  They played the roles of dead bodies, and only came up for the bow at the end.  BUT!  They can now truthfully list theater involvement on their college applications :)

Andrew was actually supposed to have a bigger role in the play, still as a dead body, but specifically the dead body that gets thrown in the window seat, and then later buried in the basement.  They figured out a few days before the play started that the boy who was supposed to put Andrew into the window seat couldn't physically lift him out of the box.  Even though Andrew is skinny, it's really hard to reach down into a box and try to lift dead body weight out.  So instead, they just did that whole scene with the lights off and no actual body in the box.